«No privileges in prison for Chico Forti»

VERONA – As for Filippo Turetta, so also for Chico Forti. For both “famous” inmates in the Montorio Veronese prison, controversy broke out over the alleged preferential treatment compared to other prisoners, but in both situations the Justice Department took a position to exclude favoritism. Undersecretary Andrea Ostellari spoke about the self-confessed murderer of Giulia Cecchettin in January, while Minister Carlo Nordio spoke yesterday about the convicted man (who professes to be innocent) for the murder of Dale Pike: “There are no preferential lanes.”

THE AGREEMENT
On the sidelines of his speech at the Economics Festival of Trento, the city of Forti, Nordio commented on the debate of recent days on the episodes that concerned the 65-year-old, such as the photo in the penitentiary with the deputy Andrea Di Giuseppe, the appreciation for the menu cooked by the chef, quick permission to visit the elderly mother Maria Loner. «The criticisms, the minister said, are the salt of freedom and in a democracy they don’t surprise me. The situation is very clear, the agreement with the Americans was full and fair. There will be an expiation of the sentence according to the Italian laws that the Americans know perfectly well and we have achieved the great human result that a detained person can see his very elderly mother and we are satisfied with this.” The Fdi representative defined Forti’s return to Italy as “a huge result obtained by the Italian Government, with the Prime Minister having spent a lot of money, as has my ministry”.
Nordio specified that the objective was achieved by “contacting the US authorities for months and months” and “also explaining the Italian legislation to the Americans”, making them “aware” that once he returned, the Trentino “would be subject to the Italian legislation which provides for forms of early release even in the case of life imprisonment, as long as it is not an obstacle and this is not.” Furthermore, according to the former magistrate, there was no forcing even in the speed with which the Surveillance authorized the visit to Trento: «It was a great humanitarian success for a person who after 25 years in prison can serve the rest of his sentence in his country of origin seeing his mother. It is a moment of satisfaction for the Government to have managed to convince a friendly but very rigorous Government with regard to the expiation of sentences such as the American one, that our system is able to guarantee the continuation of the sentence combined with humanity and the tendency towards the re-education of the condemned which is written in our Constitution”. A principle also claimed by associations such as “Sugar Bars”, which however invoke it for all 61,000 inmates.

THE PROCESS
Speaking of prisoners abroad, meanwhile, there is controversy over what happened yesterday in Hungary in the trial of Ilaria Salis. Judge Josef Szos revealed the address where the Milanese activist has been serving house arrest since Thursday. Father Roberto Salis protested immediately, turning to the Italian ambassador Manuel Jacoangeli: “Something must be done.” The diplomat alerted the police: “We immediately made a note to the Hungarian authorities, reporting what happened and asking for the adoption of all necessary measures to guarantee her safety.”
In the meantime, the Penitentiary Police Union fears the risk that the Forti and Salis cases will fuel a problematic campaign for the repatriation of the 2,058 Italian prisoners from foreign penitentiaries. «If everyone returned, declared the general secretary Aldo Di Giacomo, they would cause our prisons to collapse already with overcrowding close to 130% of capacity. The Forti case, concluded Di Giacomo, continues to fuel political controversy and legitimate protests among prisoners, starting with those in Verona, for their “star” treatment. We wouldn’t want it to become an example on how to treat Italian prisoners upon return.”

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